Artwork from JFK’s presidential suite at Hotel Texas to be shown at Dallas Museum of Art, in commemoration of 50th anniversary of assassination

This Nov. 22, 1963 photo provided by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art shows the paintings Thomas Eakins' Swimming and Charles M. Russell's Lost in a Snowstorm that were installed in in Suite 850 at the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth, where the president and first lady stayed the night before their trip to Dallas.

In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, officials at the Dallas Museum of Art announced Wednesday an exhibition of artwork that was on display in the presidential suite of the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth the night before Kennedy came to Dallas.

President Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy spent the night in Fort Worth before arriving in Dallas for the motorcade parade on Nov. 22, 1963.

“Hotel Texas: An Art Exhibition for the President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy” will debut at the DMA on May 26, 2013 and run through Sept. 15, 2013, under the title “Hotel Texas: An Art Exhibition for the President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy.” Organizers say they hope to “reveal for the first time the complete story of the presidential Suite 850 installation … and examine the significance of art both to the Kennedys and to the Dallas-Fort Worth communities.”

DMA director Maxwell Anderson issued a prepared statement, saying that the “exhibition provides an unprecedented opportunity to rediscover the Kennedys’ time in Texas, prior to the untimely death of the president, and to enhance our understanding of how the president and first lady were perceived at that point in history. The organization of an art exhibition for the couple was a testament to their appreciation for the arts. It also underscored the cultural advocacy of the leaders of Fort Worth and Dallas.”

“It was important for the Amon Carter to be a part of this project because of the museum’s close ties to the original art exhibition assembled for President and Mrs. Kennedy,” said Andrew J. Walker, director of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. “In light of our community’s passion for the arts, including the museum’s board president Ruth Carter Stevenson, the couple enjoyed a first-class art experience during their stay in Fort Worth. We hope our visitors will use this opportunity not only to appreciate these masterpieces but to reflect on the Kennedys’ lasting legacy on the arts.”

“In reuniting these works of art and unveiling this story, we hope to inspire some historical reflection about the Kennedys’ impact on the arts and the significance of providing them a space complete with such a wide-ranging group of masterworks,” said Olivier Meslay, associate director of curatorial affairs at the Dallas Museum of Art and curator of the exhibition. “Our presentation includes new scholarship surrounding the original installation and helps further celebrate the Kennedys’ impact on American culture.”

DMA officials noted in their press release that, “five days prior to the presidential couple’s arrival in Fort Worth, descriptions of the presidential suite at the Texas Hotel were released to the public. Unhappy with the couple’s accommodations, Owen Day, the art critic for the Fort Worth Press, proposed the idea of the installation to prominent art collector and leader of the Fort Worth Art Association Samuel Benton Cantey III. With the support of Ruth Carter Johnson [now Ruth Carter Stevenson], board president for the Amon Carter Museum of American Art; collector Ted Weiner; and Mitchell Wilder, the Amon Carter Director, Cantey conceived a three-part exhibition that would unfold in the parlor, master bedroom, and second bedroom of Suite 850. Drawing on local private and public art collections, each room of the suite was outfitted with works of art that befitted the tastes and interests of President Kennedy and the first lady.”

This is how the presentation unfolded, according to the DMA release:

The Parlor featured the work of impressionist painter Claude Monet, alongside works of modern sculpture and painting, including a bronze sculpture, Angry Owl, by Picasso, 1951–53; an oil painting of Manhattan by American expressionist Lyonel Feininger, 1940; an oil on paper study by Franz Kline, 1954; and a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore, 1939–40.

The Master Bedroom, which was designated as Jacqueline Kennedy’s bedroom, was adorned with impressionist masterworks, per her well-known affinity for the genre. The room included Summer Day in the Park, 1918–23, by Maurice Brazil Prendergast; van Gogh’s Road with Peasant Shouldering a Spade, 1887; John Marin’s watercolorSea and Rocks, 1919; andBassin de Deauville, an oil on canvas by Raoul Dufy.

The Second Bedroom, the president’s room, featured late 19th-century and early 20th-century American art, including Thomas Eakins’ Swimming, 1884–85; Marsden Hartley’s Sombrero with Gloves, 1936; and Charles Marion Russell’s Lost in a Snowstorm, 1888; among others.

The DMA is organizing the show, according to its release, with “the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. In addition, the Sixth Floor Museum will provide films and documentation of the president’s trip to Texas in 1963. The exhibitionwill be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, published in association with Yale University Press.”

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